


Should Have Known

by NephilimEQ



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M, amicable break up, catherine finds out, i believe in healthy relationships, mcdanno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NephilimEQ/pseuds/NephilimEQ
Summary: Goddamn. She should have known.





	Should Have Known

** Should Have Known **

Catherine drove up to Steve’s place at around six-thirty in the morning, having just gotten back to the states, feeling a surge of energy in her step as she got out of her blue corvette, knowing that he’d love the surprise. It had been a few months, but she knew where her place was in his life and wasn’t worried about what she was walking into. The two of them had an understanding. They’d had their understanding for years, now. At first, she lifted her hand to knock…but at the last second decided to see if the door was open. It was. Perfect.

She quietly slipped in through the front, gently closing the door behind her and toeing off her shoes, not noticing the second pair of shoes already next to the door: shiny patent leather loafers.

Biting her lip, she snuck down the hallway towards his bedroom, looking forward to giving him a _very_ good start to his day, before his usual early morning swim, and she inwardly crowed at seeing his door already partly open. She put her fingers against the door and slowly pressed it open the rest of the way…

…and stopped in her tracks at the sight in front of her.

Steve lay in bed, obviously naked. His torso was bare, covered in several love bites, the covers barely covering him at his waist…and an arm was thrown over that waist. A male arm. The both shifted, and Catherine held her breath…but neither of them woke up.

She knew that arm.

It was Danny.

Fuck.

She wanted to be angry; hell, she had every right to be furious…but it all swept out of her in a soft sigh. Of course, it was Danny. Who else _would_ it be?

Picking up her shoes, she left the house, putting the thought to the front of her mind. _Of course, it was Danny_. Of course. She had a bad taste in the back of her mouth, but she swallowed and deliberately ignored it. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, after all. Hell, she’d seen it coming for a long while and she should have known it was going to happen.

Despite all of their yelling and disagreements, they were strangely perfect for each other.

As she drove down the road to a local motel, she thought back to seeing them in bed together. She wondered how different it was for them.

Steve had always taken the lead in bed with her, loving, sweet, but strong and a little dominant when she goaded him in the right way, and rarely let her take control…however, she had the sinking suspicion that he had no problems whatsoever letting Danny take the lead. From where Catherine had been standing, she’d seen how low those love bites had gone, and she suspected that they went even further down. Yeah. He let Danny take the lead.

Shaking her head, she pulled up to the motel and paid for a room. One night. He never needed to know that she was in town. She already had her phone out and was looking for a new destination. She’d always wanted to visit Yosemite.

However, only two hours later, her phone rang. She looked at the caller I.D.

Steve.

Shit. Of _course_ he knew she was in town. He had connections everywhere, damn him. And, if he didn’t have the connections, he was Five-O. He could _get_ connections.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up the phone.

“Steve, hey. How’d you know I was in town?”

 _“Oh,”_ he said casually, _“A little birdie told me.”_ Cryptic. Of course. _“So, what’re you doing back in Hawai’i? Aren’t you supposed to be off liberating some third world country, rescuing orphans?”_

“Oh, I was,” she replied, unable to help but grin. “But, you know, I got bored, so I decided to come back here and remind myself what boring is really like.”

 _“Hey, how dare you besmirch the name of this island!”_ She laughed, and then he said, _“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to stop by, maybe get some dinner or something?”_ He never did dinner with her. Well, not true. He’d done dinner in the past, but when he asked it was usually laced with the not-so-subtle innuendo that there wouldn’t really be a meal, just sex. There was none of that here.

She decided to stop him before he could make the situation more awkward, and quickly said, “Steve, don’t. I already know.”

_“Know what?”_

She let out a frustrated sigh and dropped her head.

“I know about you and Danny.” She heard him start to protest, so she cut him off with, “I came by this morning. I saw the two of you in bed…”

There was a long silence. Catherine hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that. God. She didn’t mean to _say_ it like that. She swallowed and looked down, trying to gather her courage, and then carefully said, “I, uh, I didn’t mean to walk into your space like that…no, that’s not true, I did,” she quickly amended, “But not like that. I would never, you know, on purpose...” Steve said nothing, but she knew he was still on the line, so she continued, pacing as she did. “Look, the truth is, I’m okay with it.”

Finally, he said, _“I was gonna tell you tonight, over dinner.”_

She gave a small smile.

“Knowing you, I’m sure you were, Steve.” She paused for a moment, crossing an arm over her chest, and then asked, “Uh, when…when did it happen?”

She could practically hear his blush over the phone as he replied, _“Uh…a couple nights ago, actually.”_

Wow. Talk about bad timing.

There was some more silence, and then Katherine said, “Well, I’m happy for two. Actually,” she reluctantly admitted, “I was telling myself that I should have known. I mean, I think the two of you have been dancing around this for a couple of years now, at least, now that I think about it. Glad you finally got your act together.”

It hurt a bit to admit it out loud, but she knew that he needed to hear it. However, she heard nothing but confusion in his voice when he responded.

_“What do you mean? We’ve only ever been partners. How could you have known…?”_

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, wow, I didn’t realize you were that deep in denial,” she said. “Let’s just say that there’s a look that you always get when you’re around Danny…and you never got it around me. I mean, I didn’t think about it for the longest time. I just thought it was, well, something else. But when I saw you two this morning…well, let’s just say that it all fell into place.”

More silence.

Then he muttered into the phone, _“That obvious, huh?”_

Catherine shrugged and admitted, “Not at first, like I said, but I wasn’t looking for it before. To other people who weren’t me, however...might’ve been more obvious.”

Steve was the one to let out a laugh that time, and he said, _“Yeah, that’s what Kono said. She’s, uh, apparently been waiting for this to happen for a long time. As was Chin. So, uh, you’re not alone.”_

They both went quiet for a long moment, and she heard the sound of Danny on the other end of the phone yelling something to him about breakfast. It made her smile. Before he could stutter anything else out, she quickly said, “Don’t worry about dinner. Have breakfast with Danny, enjoy your time with him. I’m getting on a plane first thing tonight.”

_“Already?”_

She explained.

“Steve…the only reason I ever came back here was…well…you.” An awkward silence. “I don’t have any family here, anymore, and I don’t want to be a constant reminder of--”

He cut her off with, _“Hey, no matter what, Catherine, you’ll always be ohana. If you wanna go, then go. Don’t let anyone hold you back, let alone me, but if the only reason you’re going is because of me and Danny, then stay. We’d love to have you over for dinner.”_

She could hear the sincerity in his words and smiled to herself, thinking about taking him up on his offer...but she suddenly had this feeling of being free, untethered, and she was going to take advantage of it. This was the chance she’d been looking for without ever realizing it.

Catherine carefully replied, “I know you would. But right now, I need to be somewhere else. It’s nothing to do with you,” she quickly reassured him, “It’s just…”

She wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.

He finished it for her.

_“You feel like a cord’s been cut. Am I right?”_

She nodded to herself and said, “Yeah. Exactly. How did you…?”

She could practically hear his shrug over the phone as he drawled, _“Well, I know the feeling. I felt it the instant you told me you knew about me and Danny. We were unfinished business, and now…it’s taken care of. I think it’s okay we’re both feeling the same way. Relieved.”_

“Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Steve McGarrett?”

 _“Oh, ha ha,”_ he snapped back. _“You can thank Danny for that. He’s insisted that I be more ‘open’ with my feelings. Says it’s healthier for me, but the jury’s still out on that one.”_

Catherine smiled.

“Well, you can tell him that I think he’s right,” she gently replied. And then she said, “I’m happy for you, Steve. Really. Now, go and have a good life.”

_“Thanks. You, too.”_

Before either of them could think of saying the words, they both hung up. They didn’t need to say goodbye, and then knew it. No more goodbyes. She went back to packing her bag. As she shoved things back inside, she glanced at the one photo she had of her and Steve. It was of all them, as a group: her, Steve, Danny, Chin, Kono, and Kamekona. She looked at it closely.

She was tucked into Steve’s side and they were smiling…but whereas his right arm was slung loosely around her waist, his left arm was firmly around Danny’s shoulders, his hand curling protectively over his shoulder, fingers digging into him like he would never let go of him.

The photo was from over a year ago.

Goddamn.

She should have known.

 

 


End file.
